I like many French wines. What I don't like is having to wait 10-15 years for that Bordeaux I spent $100 on to even approach "drinkability".

The myth, however, that America wines are all high alcohol or total cheap "bulk" wines is ridiculous though. The American wine industry is huge, and the wines available cover the spectrum. Don't like 15+% ABV wines ? There are plenty of excellent wines from Napa and Sonoma that are made in a more reserved style. However why wouldn't they take advantage of California's unique geography, which allows them to produce these "bigger" wines, since there is a large market for them.

As far as most of American's wines being cheap junk, there's plenty of that table wine industry in France as well. I will say, though, the bulk wines made in America are far less interesting to me on average than, say, the 'peasant' Italian table wines.

All I know is big wine production equals bigger wine selection and lower overall prices ... so I think the trend is great news for American wine drinkers.

I've been drinking wine, legally, since the early 70s. Back then, there were a few good American wines, most were on the level of what, in those days, were marketed as French Country wines - decent, drinkable and good for everyday use but nothing great. Since then, American wines from a lot of areas have improved substantially. Something I've noticed is that American wineries have standardized the process so that, year after year, they produce decent wines and that vintage has less to do with the quality than the European wines, especially French. It seems, to me at least, that while a domestic wine will never achieve the greatness of a first growth Bordeaux in a vintage year, they also never have a skunky year like so often happened with many of the French clarets.

In my opinion, again, this has helped popularize wine drinking. It used to be that you not only had to be familiar with a lot of the vineyards and know their relative quality level, you had to keep track of which vintages and, for most folks, that was simply too much work. Now, you can find a brand you like and know that the quality will be pretty much uniform across the years.

andrewmoriarty:Why does everything have to be a competition with Americans?

Sometimes is a good thing. It causes the products to be better, less expensive. However, Cheaper usually means less quality. I'm personally for quality over quantity. If anything I've seen recently is that quality is disregarded by the masses and It's pathetic.